Change in the air at the Punjabi Market as businesses depart for Surrey

Monday, February 4, 2013

By John Mackie, Vancouver Sun

Relocation signs cover a window of the empty Guru Bazaar store on Main Street in Vancouver, which like many other businesses on the street has moved to Surrey.

Photographed by:RICHARD LAM, Vancouver Sun

The distinctive yellow street sign for the Punjabi Market at 48th and Main has faded so much you can hardly read it, which is symbolic of the changing fortunes of Vancouver’s premier South Asian shopping street.

Several businesses have moved out in the last couple of years, leaving some high-profile vacancies in the heart of the market, which has run along Main from 48th to 53rd since the 1970s.

Last year it was the Frontier Bridal Boutique, which left for a new location in Surrey after four decades on Main. Two weeks ago, it was Guru Bazaar, which also moved to Surrey.

Why? Because that’s where a lot of the South Asian population now lives. Statistics Canada reports that in 2006, there were 32,515 people with a South Asian heritage in Vancouver, and 107,810 in Surrey.

“Slowly the population moved out, or the new people who moved to Canada couldn’t afford to buy in Vancouver,” explained Sunny Khurana of the Guru Bazaar, which had been at the Punjabi Market since 1977.

“So they were buying in Delta, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Coquitlam. And all the young families ... couldn’t afford to buy in Vancouver, so they ended up buying further out.”

This is not to say the Punjabi Market is turning into a ghost town. Staples like All India Sweets, the Himalaya Restaurant and A Class Fancy Jewellers continue to anchor several blocks of Indian businesses.

Still, businesses have been leaving the Punjabi Market for Surrey for about a decade, said Satwant Amrit of Amrit Fashion.

“Ten years back the property taxes went up, and the rents, they doubled the price what it used to be,” she said.

“But I got a good deal and moved here (to 6576 Main). I used to pay almost $3,800 in rent where now I pay $2,000. It’s half, just coming across the street. But businesses are (still) moving, because $2,000 is too much these days.”

Khurana declined to say what Guru Bazaar was paying in rent, but Eddie Papazian of Orr Development said its old 5,400-sq.-ft. space can now be leased for about $15,000 per month, depending on the term of the lease and improvements.

The Guru Bazaar purchased its new location in Surrey.

“That’s the future,” said Khurana. “We could have purchased something on Main street for a similar price, maybe a little bit more. But … where are the customers? Why do you want to be in a place (that is) kind of out of the way, why not be in the centre of the action?”

Anil Nanda of Nanda Jewellers said that established businesses like Nanda do well at the Punjabi Market because they have a long-term clientele.

“We have customers coming in from Surrey, from Langley, from Poco, everywhere,” he said. “But for smaller businesses, some of the clothing stores, the movie shops and whatnot, they’re definitely suffering because of the lack of foot traffic.

“We have suffered from that, too. Before there were 22 jewelry stores on Main Street, now there’s a handful, maybe five or six. Some closed down, but a lot of them have opened in Surrey.”

Nanda thinks the street could evolve, with a base of Indian businesses but room for others.

Hardeep Virk of Roots Cafe concurs.

“The problem (in the Punjabi Market) is trying to attract different businesses, and to have more of a well-rounded community here, rather than just having Indian businesses,” he said. “There’s no banks here, there’s no drugstores. It seems to be one of those places that time has left for a while.”

He thinks the Punjabi Market would do well to develop like Fraser Street, or Commercial Drive.

“If you walk over to Fraser Street it’s a totally different story,” he said. “It’s hustling and bustling, there’s lots of different types of businesses. The difference is, it’s not ethnocentric on Fraser Street. The (Punjabi Market) area between 49th and 53rd is predominantly Indian businesses. That has to change. It changed on Commercial Drive; back in the day it was predominantly Italian businesses, but that’s not the case anymore.

“It’s important to protect the Indian heritage of this neighbourhood,” he said, “but you’ve still got to move forward and have a good mix. Because that’s what our city is built on.”